Action Alert: Sign On Letter to Urge Trump Administration to Allow Army Corps to Finish Study, Protect Great Lakes

The alert has ended with 26 Representatives signing on. Those who joined after this alert was sent out include Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). You can read the final letter here.

We have an urgent action alert in the fight against Asian carp. The Trump administration has put an indefinite hold on a critical part of the fight to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes. The Administration’s hold impacts the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s study of Brandon Road Lock and Dam, a project assessing the investments needed to prevent the aggressive invasive species of carp from entering the Great Lakes.

Please call your Representatives ASAP, TODAY, to urge them to sign on to this letter against the hold. The letter closes today, March 2, 2017 – we apologize for the quick deadline, things are happening quickly.

You may contact your Member of Congress via the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or on twitter. Members who wish to sign on should contact Nate Bolt in Huizenga’s office or Dan Harder in Bishop’s office.

This urgent sign on letter is being circulated by Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and Mike Bishop (R-Mich.). Read the letter here.

More information: This week the Trump Administration put an indefinite hold on a critical part of the fight to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp. The Administration’s hold impacts the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s study of Brandon Road Lock and Dam, a project assessing the investments needed to prevent the aggressive invasive species of carp from entering the Great Lakes. The threat posed to the Great Lakes by Asian carp is widely understood to be devastating–the carp are voracious, consuming plankton and other life at the bottom of the food chain, disrupting the entire aquatic ecosystem. In some location where Asian carp have invaded, in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, they make up 97 percent of the biomass in the river, having consumed everything else and leaving no room for other aquatic life to thrive.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today made the following statement after the Trump Administration prevented the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from releasing a draft plan for stopping further movement of Asian carp in the Illinois River.

“It’s extremely alarming that it appears the Trump Administration has decided to delay the release of today’s plan which is a critical part of our efforts to stop Asian carp and other invasive species from reaching our Great Lakes. After a lengthy review process, which included extensive outreach and collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders, it seems that the Administration has decided to side with a narrow group of special interests intent on preventing actions to address the movement of Asian Carp toward Lake Michigan. I call on the Administration to fully explain the rationale for this delay and to provide a date for when this plan will be released.”